Way2slow

I've never had but one motor that I had the heat soak issue with. It was 90 open deck block I had modified to about 310 hp and that was back when I first started playing with the 3.0's. Why a particular motor will do it and a whole bunch others don't, I don't know, but I'm not sure there is a cure for one that does. Usually, pressing the primer two or three times after starting it will take care of it. That one motor did it until I quit using it, actually until it stuck a piston, the end of the rod came through the bock and tried to saw itself in half. Normally, heat soak is an issue after running hard to a spot, killing the motor, fish for a 1/2 hour or so and then try to blast back out of there, and it will not take fuel without dying. Now, carbs that are too lean on the idles act almost the same way. Just triple check you setup. Look at the butterflies and make sure all six are fully closing and all start to lift at the same time. It's very common for me to find the two bottom carbs out of sinc because they are separate from the upper carbs. They have to be by that bent piece of metal connecting them. One end of it loosens and lets you sinc the bottom carb with the upper ones. Then make sure the port and starboard sides all start to open at the same time, that's adjusted by the rod connected between them. Next get all the marks on the linkage setting exactly where they are suppose to be, then you adjust the cam roller so it hits right on the mark. Make sure the roller still has the clear sleeve over it and not just the black part is stick up. The roller should be about 3/8" in diameter. Now, once you get all the linkage adjusted properly, DO NOT adjust the idle by stops on the linkage. It's adjusted by the rod on top going back to the timer base, by turning it so it moves the timer base. If you try to use the linkage stops, it throws all those adjustments you just spent over an hour making off. With this crappy gas, I would back my timing down to 16 degrees also. There is a trick I use to get me close on timing but it has to be set with the motor under power and turning over 5,000 rpm to be set right. You can take the cam roller off so it doesn't open the butterflies and then go full throttle. The engine will only rev to about 2,000 rpm and will be at full timing, but the reading you get on the lite doing this needs to be set about two degrees low, 14 degrees since you want to shoot for 16 when done. Now, to set it right, under full power without ridding down the lake at over 60 while hanging over the back of the boat. Take someone with you to the lake, Leave the boat strapped to the trailer, back the boat into the water so the anti-cab plate is level with and about three inches above the water. Make sure there are no boats for a couple hundred feet behind you. Start it up, watch the tach put it in forward gear and go full throttle for a few seconds. Tach needs to read at least 5,200 rpm and no more than 6,000. If it's too low, pull the boat out so the motor is up another inch and try it again. If the rpm is too high, back it in more so it's another inch lower. This will be blasting one hellava wall of water out behind the boat. When you get it right, connect the timing light and check your timing. Only run it like this a few seconds, just long enough to get a reading, make any adjustment at idle and try it again. One person to do the gas while one is doing the timing is the reason for the second person. If you have a dinged up spare prop, it might pay you to put it on also. That motor is going to be moving a lot of water and will pick up any small rocks etc and they can ding your prop.

A couple of things you need to be aware of. 96 and later carbs are fuel control idle, 92-95 are air control idle so make sure you use the right manual. The adjustments are 180 degrees opposite. A proper Linc and sinc is critical but due to the design, trying to use a carb sync gauge set is not very practical. I've been messing with these motors for a while now, and while I have a sync guageset I've used numerous times on automobile engines, but not here. I've even tried dial indicators on them and I've found that just taking your time and watching the butterflies movement.

Actually for starters, I think you screw all six low speed in all the way, then back them out 5 1/2 turns. The 97 has fuel controlled idles so you go clockwise to lean and CCW for rich. Do not try adjusting the mixture (beyond the initial setting) or idle speed on a hose. The motor has to be in the water and should be trimmed level. The water creates a back pressure and without it you will never get them set right. Normally the initial setting is pretty good.

Mercury bought Force to market an entry level motor, at a cheaper price than the merc, made a few minor changes, but nothing to brag about. Cheap, entry level motors is just what they are. Their technology is still from the 60's, they have very poor performance, compare to any other similar size motor today. Their reliability is questionable. a few people have gotten trouble free service from them but most wish they had never seen one. If you tried to give me one and told me I had to use it if I took it, I wouldn't take it.

Since I rarely use the remote, I didn't think to try it.

Probably not. First off, it's probably a cranking battery, which running it down constantly with the TM will kill it. Second, it's probably not going to have enough Ah capacity to run for more than a very short time. You can always try it and see, if it will run long enough, it will last a little while before it goes totally belly up.

A "BIT" cumbersome, Wait until you have to go to the bank a dozen times or so in very shallow water getting a lure out of the bushes. There is nothing about that thing that's not pain in the *** doing that. With that 60" shaft, if you raise it up shallow, you have a huge flag pole right in your way. With my MG, I can pull it up, hold it by the rope and walk it all the way in, get the lure, hold it up again skimming the surface and walk it back to deeper water. I've had it at least three of four years, and there just have not been many situations I have preferred it over the MG. There are a few situations were the i-Pilot is nice, but not enough to outweigh the times it's just a pain to use. I think you are looking at a different pedal than mine. Mine only has one pedal, and it's held in by two screws holding the centering springs, and most are wanting $150. Anyway, it's off now, just got through installing the MG. Now I've got to find the prop for it. The last time I used it was fishing the St Johns in heavy Lillie pads and have a Ninja prop on it. Not worth a darn for my normal use. It's my understanding the run switch in those are a pressure switch and not available for replacement. Which, that's my sons problem now, unless the MG dies from not being used in so long. Actually, I just checked and it one big control module mounted in the bottom and all the switches are internal magnetic switches. Nothing in there to repair other than replace the whole module. Other than that, it's just a bunch of plastic parts, so not a whole lot there repairable.

You still have to be able to stop and start it. With it stuck in constant run, the only way to do that was using the speed control

Finally, it has made it's last trip on the front of my boat. I've never liked it, now the foot pedal is stuck in constant run and apparently the only fix for it is to replace it (@ $150) I may have paid $1,500 for it, but I wouldn't give $150 for another one just like it. I took my bother fishing with me and he is not much on casting, so I spent more time chasing his lure and getting it unhung and fighting that Terrova in and out of shallow water to the bank than I did fishing. Then the switch went out so it was stuck in constant run. After that, it didn't take long for my fun meter to peg out. When the fun meter pegs out, you have to stop having all that fun, so I loaded up and headed for the house. I dug out my old MG, I had a lapse in sanity and took off to put the Terrova on, plugged it up and it's still works, so it's going back on the bow. My son said he would take the Terrova, so the next time he comes home, it's all his. He thinks he will be able to use the remote to have his back bay boat follow him around while he is wadding. I told him he has more faith in that thing than I do. He's liable to see his boat heading off into parts unknown while he's still punching buttons on that remote.

That's what it be, just a plain old Johnson 70. Now, if you fish HP limited lakes, you could put 9.9 decals and see if that fools anybody. I've seen them try it with 25's.

If it is an 88 with VRO, you would probably want to bypass it anyway, unless it has had a new one installed since 2000 or so.

If you live in a climate that you have freezing temps during the winter, it's best to do it in the fall before storing the boat. If it happened to develop a leak and got water in it, you risk two problems. One, the water freezing and cracking the gear case, and second, that long period between fall and spring gives the water time to rust the gears. As for twice a year, unless it's for commercial use or you are fishing the FLW or BASS schedule, you most likely would never put enough time on it to warrant two changes a year.

I never make a turn at full speed, way to dangerous. I will make some change in direction but not what one would consider a turn. If it's a big wide turn, I trim down some, this gets enough of the hull in the water to slow it to about 62-65. If it's a sharper turn, I throttle back,depending on how sharp and how much visibility I have around the turn. My boat is fast, but I'm not a dumb driver. I know my boat, I know my skills, and I have nothing to show off and not into to looking cool. Being smart and safe, is the cool thing to do in my book. Make those high speed turns in a fast boat and you may be the next idiot on u-tube demonstrating a bat turn, or the next crash we hear about on the news.

First, start by fixing any leaks in the fuel system. I'm not much on Mercs but if your 88 25 is like my 83 25, I think the fuel pump is part of the carburetor. If that's so, any fuel line leaks would be before the fuel pump. Any leaks before the fuel pump lets the fuel pump pull air instead of fuel, so it does not pump fuel. After fixing any fuel leaks, just to keep from setting it on fire if nothing else, you need to determine if the problem is fuel or ignition. Pull both spark plugs out, connect the top plug wire to one of the plugs you removed and hold the base of that plug against the block (on some bare metal) pull the rope and see if you are getting a blue spark from the electrode. Then do the same thing with the bottom plug wire. If both cylinders are giving a good blue spark, you are probably having a fuel problem. If you did not get a good blue spark, you have an ignition problem.

You've gotta be a little clearer with the details. Is it electric or pull start? Won't crank means the motor will not spin over. Is it locked up? Won't start means the motor spins but will not star. Before spending money on a carb kit, there are a lot of checks I would do first. First, you need to determine the cause of the problem. Right now, you haven't determined if it's fuel or ignition, or if it's locked up or not.

I hope it's not your generic canoe. I have a 17' Grumman cargo canoe with squared off back and my little 4hp Merc is almost too much motor for it.

Yes and yes with a but. If you have the funds, while upgrading the motor, upgrade to a 24 volt and buy you another battery just like the one you have. This would be the ideal time to do it, while the one battery is still new and both batteries should be the same type and age when run in series. If you use the TM a lot, this is something you are gonna end up having to do in the future anyway. It will save you a bunch of money doing it now. You can still stick with a 55-60# thrust, just do it with 24V. Now, there are going to be those that will say get an 80 or more, it's not needed on that weight boat unless you fish fast moving riivers or large lakes with extreme winds. For my personal use, I would stick a 60# variable speed, 24V motor on it. Variable speed, not one of those with set speed numbers on it. One other thought, if you think you might go to 24 volt in several months, get the battery now and just run the two in parallel until you upgrade the motor. That way the batteries will still be the same age with the same run time on them. Keeping the batteries the same is extremely important when in series for 24 volt use. If they are not it will damage the stronger battery fairly quickly.

The monometer is probably not going to do you a whole lot of good. Paying careful attention to the butterflies in the carbs and getting each of them to fully close and start to open at the same time is the critical part of a proper link and sync. I have spent 30 minutes just tweeking the linkage adjustment between the carbs and getting the cam roller to hit just right. A proper link and sync is very time consuming if you do it right. Also understand, once you get it right, DO NOT use the linkage stops to adjust the idle, you just throw everything back off again. Idle is adjusted by the timing linkage rod going to the timer base once a proper link and sinc is completed. Pretty sure what you are seeing is exhaust residue. Leave the motor down and sometimes you have a big black spot under it with a black line running down the gear case and skegg.

Battery cables to TM is hooked up backwards and its a good chance that exhaust residue coming out of the lower unit. If the lube in the LU is black or clean gear oil, with no sings of water, I would just check the level regularly to make sure it's not leaking.

I sure hope you find it, anyone that has a guaranteed start procedure for any kind of motor needs to copy right or patent that sucker. I know I want a copy.

There's more to it than just how much hp. With the right prop, a 50 should get on plane just fine. However, it may be way too small of a prop when you are running light, with just you in the boat. A lot of times, when running smaller motors, you need to keep a couple different props handy. When running by yourself or with a lite load, you may need to run a 17" (just using that as a reference) but when you throw three lard**ses in it, you will have to drop down to a 15" or maybe even a 13" to be able to get up on plane. The top speed will also drop considerably. Hull design plays a huge role in how well a boat will get on plane also. A 52" wide flat bottom will get on plane with a heavy load a whole lot easier than a 42" V-bottom. The thing you do is always try to be able to buy the max hp motor the hull is rated for, with the most CC displacement. Which in this case, I think that boat is only rated for a 50. However, if that's the Force 50, don't look for much hole shot. Those are antique technology motors and don't get on plane very well at all. The reason for paying attention to the CC size, it takes torque to get on plane, and it takes CC's to make torque. One brand motor might get a little more aggressive with their porting and sell a smaller 600 CC as a 50 hp, where another might detune one of their larger motors and sell a 800CC as a 50hp. The 800 would get you up and going a whole lot easier than a 600. One other thing, understand while stainless props cost more, they will get you up on plane a whole lot better than the same pitch aluminum. So, if concerned about getting on plane, get stainless props.

Normally, what makes a marine plug, a marine plug is it has a stainless steel base. What you want to put in your outboard is what the manufacture recommends. I don't even like to vary brands names with them, if specify a Champion plug, I use a champion. Sometimes, depending on the particular engine, I will go down on heat range if that motor is going to be run a lot a WOT. Other than that, I stick with what the book calls for. If for some reason I have to substitute a brand, I will use NGK's. I have had better luck with those matching the brand it calls for. The brand does make a difference, I've put what other brands claim are the right plugs and it would barely run, so from years of lesson's learned. I stick with the manufactures recommend brand name.

No, you are cutting the clamps off the jumper cables and installing eyelets. The eyelets on one end will bolt to the eyelets on the TM cable, the eyelets on the other end connect to the battery.

I don't think Lowes or HD carry a fine stranded cable and that large stranded stuff is too stiff and can be a pain in the butt. If it was mine, this is what I would do. If it has alligator clips, I would cut those off and put heavy duty 5/16"-3/8" (what ever size your battery terminals are) eyelets on it, crimp, solder and heat shrink them. This is something I would do even if I was not wanting to extend it. If it already has eyelets on it, leave them alone. For the extension, I would try to find some very fine stranded 8ga battery wire, a set of those cheap Harbor Freight or Wal-Mart jumper cables should do the trick. Cut the ends off, crimp, solder and heat shrink eyelets on it to match the ones on the TM cable and will fit on the battery terminals. Get a couple of nuts, bolts and washers and bolt the two ends at the TM together and tape them up good. Fasten the other end to the battery with hex nuts and a wrench, NO WINGNUTS, and you are good to go.

All I'm trying to do is make sure you are not tearing into a good LU. Check it while you have it one the ground and see if it's engaging the gears in both directions. Those are pretty tough LU's but there are many times linkages can get out of whack and cause them not to fully engage in one direction of the other. This is a whole lot more common than the LU causing it. If you have to replace any gears, it' requires a special jig to set it up, so if you put it back together without it, you may be buying a replacement LU pretty soon afterwards. Also, for what most of the hard part in that things cost, you can find a good used LU cheaper.